My wife and I have have been having a blast with the Charger 10 & 12 here in Thailand. It has been a sketchy season this year. El Nino has not been good for Thai winds. It has been windy for 4-5 days, then no wind for a week or more, so we have had some difficulty in getting a real impression of the new PL kites.

Coming from Venom 1's, they are without a doubt a completely different experience. The turning speed of these kites is very fast and much different than Venoms. They are not so different that someone who has flown twinskins before will not feel comfortable on them, just happier. The autozenith is still there as well as the stability these kites are known for.

In order to get used to the turning speed of the 10 Charger we have been flying it with the tip straps loose, as it was insanely fast when first flown, generating tons of power on the up and down stroke. I was overflying it on the up stroke and found it flying way past zenith and yarding me around. Now that I am used to the slower flying speed with tip straps fully loose it will be really fun to tighten the tip straps to see what it is capable of. Over the next two months there should be some days where we can get out on the 10 and see just what it is capable of with tight tip straps. My wife needs about 15 knots to ride and stay upwind. For myself, I need 17-18 to be fully powered, though this will probably be revised when I tighten the tips. I am hoping that the bottom end of this kite will be around 15-16 knots or less with a different board. The days where I had the most fun was when I had 20-25 knots. In this way it reminds me of my Venom 10 where the more wind you had the more fun this kite is. I used to think my Venom 10 was a fast turning kite, but the Charger has put it to shame and generates much more power with it's fast turning speed. It will be interesting to see what the top end for this kite will be. I would imagine it will easily be 30+ .

The Charger 12 is not quite as fast as the 10 of course, but a huge improvement over the Venoms. After some time on it we think it has nearly the same power as a Venom 16 with much faster turning speed of course. At 55 kilos, my wife can ride the 12 Charger in 12 knots and stay up wind easily. For me at 74 kilos I need 13-14 knots to stay up wind, but a solid 15 to be reasonably powered. I have riden it in 20 knots and it seems 25+ would be easily within it's range. These impressions are with all straps fully tight.

Both of us are riding the Ocean Rodeo 140 X 40, which is NOT a particularly good light wind board. It will be interesting to see the difference another board makes. Where we are riding there is no current other than the wind current. So in that way, it is a truer test than somewhere where there is a current running the opposite direction from the wind.

Thanks for the great review Stoked you guys are having fun on the Chargers. Let us know how you go with the 15m as well. Wish you had a good directional to play with in conjunction with these kites. They love apparent wind as the other PL kites. Had a great session on the 15 a few days ago in real bug fart sort of stuff and some fun little waves. The ability of the 15 Charger to stay in the air in the holes as my tubes would not allowed me to have a great solo session at a local point break and happy with the ability to ride towards the kite on the wave while surfing. A bit stiffer kite with this PL model has improved this part of it's function. Not a tube kite stiff but the lightness of the no bladder kite with the stiffer shape allows much more freedom. Being able to use the full turning potential of the new kite with apparent wind generation has significantly opened up the bottom end to more power. Have Fun in T Land!

go chargers -- top notch . Traig & monkeyair is leading the charge of chargers here on the Cal West coast . I am happy to say they are the funnest pL so far. Looking forward to riding them ,(all sizes,) for sure in all this springs fun - wind , waves & whatever; those Olympic events -(that's special olympics.--? ) were going for the gold! I will be pimping for monkeyair! happy kiting gary -- go Chargers -aaaah??? san diego?

Hi,I can only comment on the Charger 15. I am very happy with it. I have owned allmost all models of PL kites from Guerilla 1 on. The Charger is for me lightyears better than Synergy. Much quicker turning, better lowend, lower bar pressure, higher internal pressure compared to previus models,...I am using ARCs and also Tubes (SLEs). In the past few years I was kiting in the water mostly with tubes, but from when I got the Charger I have flown a tube only once, just to make a comparison, but I liked the Charger more. Just to be celar - I am not interested in wakestyle and unhooked, so I can not comment on this aspects. I like freeriding, big jumps, hangtime, floaty jumps, low wind kiting with a raceboard and oldschool trix.If you have never flown an Arc, I recomend you testfly the Charger first (that should be done when buying any kite I guess ). If you are allready an "ARCuser" I am sure you will love the Chrager!Hope this helps,Jaros

What kind of tubes were you flying before? What is the charger like with regards to low end power. I seem to have read that arcs tend to be kites which like to be powered up, and like to be flown fast to generate power. But I understand that the charger has more low end than previous arcs?

I flew an ARC last in 2001, but I didn't really have too much experience then, so I can't really remember how it flew. I fly all sorts of kites now both foils and tubes, but not ARCs. I would like to try, because the concept sounds interesting... Either it is the best of both worlds, a foil which steers like a tube. Or it is the worst of both worlds...

Hi,I am using Ocean Rodeo Rise SLE tube kites, which are also great kites btw. Before that I owned the GK Sonic. Charger 15 replaces the Rise 12, which is expected while Charger is a C kite with less projected arrea than SLE kites.I can use the Charger 15 in the same low wind, as the Rise 12, that is arround 12 knots measured at the beach with a 133x39 TT board and be able to hold ground. I also have a North LTD 2010 raceboard. With a raceboard - I much prefere the Charger over the tube in low wind, which was a bit of surprise to me. I can go upwind in 10 knots on a raceboard, but I bought the board reacently, so I am not really used to it jet. I fell I will be able to use it in a knot or two less when I will master it like one should.Where are you from? Any places to test the PLins near you?Greetings,Jaros